INRD near-fatalities underscore trespassing problem

Railroads, Operation Lifesaver, and law enforcement communicate three facts on a daily basis: “Railroad tracks are private property, they are not public thoroughfares, and they are very dangerous.” Yet, despite these efforts, trespasser fatalities have been on the rise.

According to the most recent Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis statistics, trespasser fatalities in the first four months of 2014, at 167, were 30.5% higher than the same 2013 period, in which 128 deaths occurred. From the same period in 2011, following three years of relatively flat numbers (123, 124, and 128; for 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively), they’ve risen 35.8%.

This came into sharp focus at 6:50 a.m. Thursday, July 10, 2014, on Indiana Rail Road’s viaduct spanning an inlet of Lake Lemon, 10 miles northeast of Bloomington, Ind., when two female subjects were found trespassing on the middle of the bridge, known as Shuffle Creek Trestle. INRD spokesperson Eric Powell describes the incident:

“The person who first saw the trespassers was the engineer in the lead locomotive of a northbound, 14,000-ton INRD freight train traveling at 30 mph. Imagine, if you will, rounding a curve just before a 500-foot-long, 80-foot-high bridge, only to find two subjects sitting in your train’s path. The engineer followed all appropriate protocols, immediately making an emergency brake application and repeatedly sounded the horn. However, as the subjects ran toward the opposite end of the viaduct, the engineer was helpless to do more. The slowing train was still catching up to the fleeing trespassers.

“The consequences of trespassing on railroad-owned property are never taken seriously by those choosing to do so, and this incident at Lake Lemon is one of the most glaring examples I’ve seen in more than 40 years in this business,” says Indiana Rail Road Co. Founder, President, and CEO Tom Hoback. “In this case, not only did two trespassers narrowly escape a horrible death, but had the heavy train derailed due to the emergency brake application—which isn’t uncommon—it could have taken down the bridge, possibly killing the engineer as well. The human, environmental, and financial toll would have been enormous.”

The subjects involved in the Shuffle Creek incident have been identified by law enforcement, and the trespassing incident is now a criminal matter. “But the tragic fact remains that 908 people were killed in the U.S. by trespassing on railroads in 2013; 38 of those unnecessary deaths were in Indiana, and each represents a tragedy that mars the lives of not just the trespasser’s family, but railroaders and their families for life,” says Hoback.

One possible, and potentially major, contributing cause to the increase in railroad trespassing fatalities and injuries is what Rose calls “distracted walking,” pedestrians who “are focused on their cell phone or other handheld electronic device instead of paying attention to where they’re walking—especially if they are using earbuds or headphones,” she says. “A recent study by an Ohio State University professor published in the August 2013 issue of Accident Analysis & Prevention shows that pedestrian cell phone-related injuries have more than doubled since 2005, based on emergency room data from 100 hospitals around the country maintained by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission. The study found that the age group most at risk is young adults under 30.”